


Even Cowboys hurt

by AbstractAuthenticity



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: How Do I Tag, I Tried, My First AO3 Post, No Spoilers, Poor Arthur, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 04:24:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16885587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbstractAuthenticity/pseuds/AbstractAuthenticity
Summary: (Im horrible at summaries so just bear with me)





	Even Cowboys hurt

Cassie let off a soft puff of an annoyance as the fire went out again, after his 6th try at it, he let the flint and rock go. The ginger slowly stood up from his cold spot on the floor, stretching his stiff, cold limbs.  
" no luck with the fire? "  
Cassie gave a quick side glance in the voices general direction, spotting Hoseas slim form against the blinding white outside the caves entrance.  
" sadly, no. Nothing will ignite, no matter what i do It just smokes. " he sighed loudly, giving a frustrated look at the sticks, flint and rocks.  
" let me give a try, while you go fetch Arthur " Hosea stumbled into the caves bleak entrance, his winter coat covered in soft dry snow, his hair swept to one side of his face. With what Cassie assumed was small icecicle hanging from his bleach blonde hair. Cassie felt somewhat bad for him, sense was wearing a heavy winter coat lined with bear fur. And thick leather gloves, and boots.  
" what'd he so this time? " Cassie asked, swiftly side stepping away from Hosea as he worked on the fire. " nothin yet. " Hosea chuckled good heartedly.  
" just that Dutch wanted him in here before he turns himself into a human Popsicle, he should be near that river that runs down between those two fallen pines. " Hosea explained, " hes hunting deer, so be careful he dont mistake you for one! " he called after Cassie, who was already walking out into the cold bitterness.  
Cassie rubbed his eyes and whined softly, the glaring white of the snow nearly blinded him, and the wind wipped at his face.  
He whistled as loud as he could as he walked away from there make shift camp.  
He heard a whining sound and a neah, before a large dark future trotted out from the snow. Artie, a huge black Tennesewalker, shook himself from the snow that had gathered on his wide back side.  
" hey boy. wanna go and find some cowboys with me? " he whispered, although he bet that the horse couldnt even hear him over the howling wind that battered at them.  
-  
Artie sniffed, shaking his mighty head before looking the other direction, Cassie petted his man for a second before climbing into his back.  
He gabbed a hold of the reins tightly, giving a soft kick with his spurr, Artie began Moving to where ever Cassie steered him to.  
The path was not an easy one since the snow had only gotten heavier, and the path was hard to see through, at some points he was just hoping the horse knew the way.  
He kept straining his eyes looking for the fallen pines and trying to hear over the storm any sign of a river flowing. He started smelling some smoke, so any signs of light of a fire would give him some hope. He stepped off his horse, and steadied the fella, giving him a few calming pets on his head. He turned and started following the smell of smoke. He started to see some embers. That's when he heard a loud pop, and a wet feeling dripping down his leg. He started to feel dizzy as he felt his leg. He was shot in his calf. Not fatal, but it could be if he didn't find shelter soon. He heard foot steps running towards him. It was Arthur. "You sum bitch, you shot me!" Cassie yelled at him.  
"Aw shit, I'm so sorry Cass, hold on, let me carry you to this hide out I made. It's got a fire going at least" Arthur pleaded. "I guess I ain't got any other choice ya asshole"  
"C'mon boy" he whistled for his horse and he trotted slowly behind him, Arthur helped Cassie back to his small makeshift camp, which was a small abandoned cabin. Arthur pushed open the door, then helped Cassie sit down near the fire, that was seated in the middle of the room, making sure he didn't sit on his leg wrong.  
He gave Cassies injury a questioning glance before sitting down next to him.  
-  
" don't that hurt you any? " he asked, looking at the wound and then at Cassies disgruntled face. " cant feel shit " he grumbled back, " to Cold ".  
Arthur simply nodded, he felt ashamed for what he'd done, he shouldn't have just shot at random, he could have killed Cassie! Or handicapped him. He rubbed his face, before letting his hands fall into his lap.  
" I don't got any thin' to help you with that, " Arthur said slowly, " we'd have to get back to camp soon then " Cassie replied, he could feel the throbbing pain in his calf start to grow as he got warmer.  
" we should wait it out, it was lucky of you not to get lost out there just now " Arthur muttered, looking out onto the frozen waist land outside, through the splintering, pane less windows.  
Cassie simply nodded, not feeling the need to continue the conversation.  
As the storm ragged outside, a comfortable amount of silence passed, before Cassie spoke.  
" you've been gone an awful lot lately, from camp i mean, " Cassie said softly. He winced when he tried to shift his could to a more comfortable one, but stopped as stabbing pain flared up from his wound.  
Arthur didnt respond, he just nod his head slowly, looking into the fire. Cassie could tell he was thinking, probably about what he was about to say. Which in all honesty was a rare thing from the young man, most of the time he just said what ever came to mind, and usually what ever came to mind was something that carried a lode of shit with it.  
" is... Is it about Eliza? " Cassie guessed, taking a stab in the dark. Arthur sighed heavily and shook his head, " nawh, just.. Ive... I just needed some time " he said roughly, rubbing his face. " oh " Cassie nodded like he understood, and really he did. Dutch could be a tad bit overwhelming sometimes, even a bit brass or short minded, and Miss Susan was nice and all, but still a bit harsh, yet caring, a bit to caring, and Hosea was nice to, nothin wring there.. maybe it was Jhon? The young fool of a boy Dutch had picked up before Cassie had joined? Maybe it was all of it. Then coupled with Eliza and Isaac, it really must have pushed Artur to the breaking point. But the breaking point usually meant tears. And lots of them.  
" uh well... I'm.. Im here for you if you need... Comfort.. " the words fell from Cassies tongue in a hurry, they felt right saying them, but they left a god awful after taste.  
Arthur grunted, looking at him with cold, icy, blue eyes, they looked pained, he looked hurt.  
-  
Arthur looked hurt but Cassie knew that there was no use in prodding. That's just not what you do even if you wanted to. All of us out here in such a harsh way of life usually just make small talk, bust each other's balls, or fight, there wasn't much room for "sharing your feelings"  
So Cassie let it drop until Arthur ever wanted to talk about it. They both fell asleep after making sure the fire was strong enough to carry on for at least 4 hours. 4 hours until day break. Boy, were they ever ready.  
Cassie woke up squinting, and jerked back when he heard something sniffling near his ear. It was a squirrel. Cassie tried to move quick enough to catch it for food, but it's tail slipped through his fingers. He looked up, and saw that the fire was smoldering, and Arthur was packing up his horse. Arthur noticed he had waken up. " How ya feelin?" Arthur asked.  
Cassie tried to shift his leg to assess the damage and instant pain seared through his leg when he did. "Ah! Not good. Definitely need to see a doctor"  
"Alright. I'm gonna take you back to town, get you healed up, then I'll square things away with Hosea and his needs"  
Cassie nodded. Arthur walked over to Cassie to help him up, trying to steady him on his feet as best as he could. And walked him over to his horse and strapped him in with plenty of "ah! Ouch! Fuck! And goddamns!" And onward they went back to town, but the sun was shining helping to warm their skin from the harsh surroundings. "Hold on, brother, not much longer" Arthur assured Cassie. Soon they neared their town

**Author's Note:**

> this was a small rp thing i wrote with a friend! This is our first published fic to! I hope you enjoyed it ^^


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